Looking Up

Concrete, glass, steel, and egos

Everyone tells you about the Smith Tower (the tallest office building outside New York City when it was built in 1914) but there are even better stories about Seattles tall buildingslike the former IBM building at Fifth and University, the glassy lobby of which housed in the 1960s a mainframe computer with all the computational power of a contemporary calculator. Hear them on a two-hour Historic Skyscrapers Walking Tour offered by the Seattle Architecture Foundation; take a walk with an architect and learn more about the history of these landmarks. Gather at the Smith Tower, 701 Second Ave.